How ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ Elly May Clampett Jumpstarted a Fashion Trend
Flannel shirts and blue jeans: the look is an autumn staple for ladies everywhere. But that the laid-back look didn’t come from a designer’s sketchbook — it arrived on the fashion scene via a rickety pick-up truck, in the form of The Beverly Hillbillies‘ Elly May Clampett. Played by Louisiana-born Donna Douglas, critter-loving country girl Elly May stepped onto America’s TV screens in snug denim trousers and a tailored flannel shirt and, without even trying, launched a timeless fashion trend.
When The Beverly Hillbillies debuted on September 26, 1962, Western dramas still ruled the airwaves, with men in rugged denim and women who wore sweeping skirts — even though they lived on wagon trains, dusty ranches or rural homesteads. Not even the savviest clothing exec could have predicted that a TV tomboy gal from the Tennessee hills would be the one to make blue jeans — especially blue jeans for women — an absolute must-have, no matter where their wearer lived.
What did Elly May wear?
According to a 1962 article on the show, costume designers originally thought Elly May would wear men’s jeans, but they just couldn’t get them to look right on Douglas. “Altering the jeans did not work, so Opal Vila, in charge of women’s wardrobe on the series, went searching for a kind known in the trade as ‘stretch pants.’ These, as the term indicates, have a certain elasticity with a corresponding tendency to cling without bulging.”
Though she may have been wearing a slightly different style, Elly May’s dungarees closely resembled Levi Strauss & Company’s Lady Levi’s 701 jeans. The line was created by the company in 1934 for women who worked on farms and ranches, and had previously been making due with men’s jeans. The 701s were made of the same rugged denim, with the same straight legs as the fellas’ 501 jeans, but their curvier hips and waist were tailored just for women.
Levi’s continued to adapt the jeans as the years went by, narrowing the legs to be more flattering for ladies who didn’t need to fit works boots underneath. A buckle at the back of the waist band allowed for a truly customized fit.
Everett Collection
When Elly May Clampett appeared on TV screens week after week, demonstrating how attractive the practical pants could be, the shapely Douglas became the best unpaid pitch woman Levi Strauss & Company could’ve hoped for. By the end of The Beverly Hillbillies‘ first season, sales of the company’s Lady Levi’s line skyrocketed.
Interestingly, Jed’s jeans (worn by Buddy Ebsen) are in the Smithsonian’s collection, but not Elly May’s.
Everett Collection
Not only did the Louisiana born Douglas — who would have turned 93 today — have the figure to make the simple look a showstopper, she was perfectly comfortable wearing it. Though Douglas moved to New York after high school to find work as a model, her rural upbringing landed her the role of Elly May. The fledgling actress was just a week into acting school, and The Beverly Hillbillies would be her first acting job ever. At her audition, producers asked Douglas to milk a goat.
Douglas — who returned to her rural roots after leaving Hollywood — had milked cows before and decided it couldn’t be too different. “I figured they were equipped the same,” Douglas told Columbus, Georgia’s Ledger-Enquirer in a 2009 interview, “so I just went on over and did it.”
Likely inspired by Marilyn Monroe‘s “city slicker gone cowgirl” look in 1961’s The Misfits, Beverly Hillbillies costumer Opal Vils put Douglas in the cozy meets sexy look, and the young actress took it from there. Douglas did for denim dungarees and form-fitting flannel what Audrey Hepburn did for cigarette pants and a simple, tailored top, and, decades later, fashionable ladies still reach for the look as soon as the weather turns cool.